With the help of Miguel Nicolelis, a researcher in neuroprosthetics at Duke University in the United States, the primate has been taught to remotely control a robot counterpart.

Scientific American explains how Nicolelis has been running experiments using monkeys and robots for at least a decade.

But his latest test was the most amazing yet. He used the brain signals of a monkey on a treadmill to use a robot in Japan. The monkey watched the robot walking and was able to use his movements to control the device thousands of miles away.

The research team is hoping the same technology might be able to enable paralysed people to control exoskeletons with their minds - and potentially walk again.